MADtv ran for 14 seasons, existing always as the crude teen sibling to SNL‘s crude adult. When it ended, it seemed few people noticed, though fans of the show have surely been happy to see alums like Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele succeed post-show. But, for those few people who did notice, great news.
Deadline has broken that the CW plans on resurrecting the show with eight hour-long episodes at primetime. The format is going to be slightly different, as members from the original cast are set to host the show, which will feature a cast largely (if not entirely) different from the original. The CW already has a connection to the show: in January they aired a 20th anniversary special that featured a number of returning cast members. David E. Salzman, who produced the original series, is returning to produce.
“The MADtv franchise is as vibrant as ever thanks largely to social and digital media appealing to a fan base numbering in the millions that relates to the show’s brand of authentic and irreverent cross-cultural comedy,” Salzman said, though he failed to address the fact that, when it aired, the series blatantly disregarded political correctness, a thing that sometimes didn’t matter but which has become very dangerous and important in the era of social media, when people rightfully care more about accurate and fair depictions, even in comedy.
There’s no date for the return of the show, but, with the election looming, one would assume the network and the show’s creators would try to capitalize by getting the show to air as quickly as possible.